It is time for me to speak my truth: I have been haunted by the movie Challengers since I saw it in February. Specifically, the scene where Zendaya's character, Tashi Duncan, blows out her knee in the middle of a college tennis match. I am ready to talk about my almost-harrowing experience seeing this otherwise incredible movie. Please, gather 'round and heed my warning.
For those who have not been on the internet recently, Luca Guadagnino's Challengers follows three tennis players named Tashi, Art (Mike Faist), and Patrick (Josh O'Connor) as they grow from amateur teenage tennis players into, in Patrick and Art's case, adult pros. The movie is basically a study in how Tashi influences these two men and plays puppet master after her own dream goes up in flames. It works because, without spoiling, the two men basically lose it over Tashi, which is completely understandable considering the woman playing Tashi is the most stunning person alive on planet Earth today.
When the trailer first dropped ten months ago, I had no idea what to expect. But I clicked faster than I've ever done anything else in my life to see what Zendaya was about to give me. And a few seconds into the trailer, it happened: the knee-pop to end all knee-pops. A sound so upsetting that I literally started to sweat. I got a little bit nauseous. I barely made it through the last minute of the trailer. And most upsettingly, I had a crisis of faith: Could I even go see this movie knowing that moment was waiting for me?
But I soldiered on for the sake of my love of Zendaya and saw the movie in an early screening back in February. I was excited, but nervous. And based on the trajectory of the movie, I assumed the knee-pop would be towards the beginning and I could rip the bandaid and move on with experiencing my horny bliss for the rest of the runtime. But no! Due to a very fun timeline shuffle, it doesn't take place until NEARLY AN HOUR INTO THE FILM. I had worked myself up into such a tizzy by then that I was sweating profusely during every tennis scene (and let me tell you, there are a LOT of them). When it finally did happen, I genuinely think I almost threw up. I had to step out of the screening room and take deep breaths afterward. Basically, it was mortifying!
In the months since I saw the film, this scene has haunted me. Every time I see a photo from the press tour, a clip of an interview, a still from the movie, I think about that knee-pop, which is pretty rough considering the marketing blitz for this movie that has taken over my entire timeline. It's not even so much seeing her knee go sideways, which is brutal in its own way, but it's the sound it makes. It makes me shudder so hard I might dislocate a shoulder (without a sound effect, or else I would cringe). And even this past week as more of my friends and colleagues have started to see the film, I can barely talk about it. I actually start to sweat if I think about it for too long.
And hey, maybe that's the power of cinema. The experience of the film is so visceral that I can't help but revert back to that nervous state when I talk about it, and that's how you know The Art is good. Or maybe I should go talk to a therapist. Probably both! But Luca, if you're reading this, please consider releasing the "no knee-pop" cut in theaters. I will buy 15 tickets.
